[VIDEO] Eurovision Song Contest 1998 - Full Show (Spanish Commentary)

The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Birmingham in the United Kingdom, following Katrina and the Waves's win in the 1997 contest in Dublin with "Love Shine A Light". It was the UK's fifth win, and the eighth time that the UK hosted the contest, the last being in Harrogate in 1982. The UK has not won or hosted the contest since. The contest took place in the National Indoor Arena on 9 May 1998, and the arena played host to the G8 summit one week later, so much so that presenter and commentator Terry Wogan's hotel room was later occupied by Bill Clinton. Twenty-five countries participated in the contest, with Macedonia making their official début, even though they had submitted an entry in the non-televised 1996 pre-qualifying round, which failed to qualify into the televised final of that contest. Belgium, Finland, and Slovakia returned to the contest after a one-year absence. Despite having also taken part in the non-televised 1996 pre-qualifying round, in which they failed to qualify, Romania and Israel returned officially after their last participations in 1994 and 1995 respectively. Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, and Russia all withdrew from the contest due to the relegation rule. Italy did not return until 2011.

There was much controversy in the lead-up to the contest, mostly surrounding the entries from Greece, Israel, and Turkey: the Greek composer, Yiannis Valvis, was unhappy with the way that the director, Geoff Posner, intended to film his song;mmany Orthodox Jews objected to the selection of transsexual Dana International for Israel; Turkey struggled during rehearsals to get their song within the three-minute time limit. Dana International eventually went on to win the contest, scoring 172 points,[N 1] with the song "Diva", written by Svika Pick and Yoav Ginai. The singer had attracted much media attention both in Israel and Europe since she had undergone gender reassignment in 1993, being the first openly transgender performer to enter the competition.

Full Show, Spanish Commentary (TVE)
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